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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045195">Recovery takes two</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuroKittyPurr/pseuds/KuroKittyPurr'>KuroKittyPurr</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Castlevania (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, Work In Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:02:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,329</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045195</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuroKittyPurr/pseuds/KuroKittyPurr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Isaac attacks Styria, he creates the perfect opportunity for Hector to run away by distracting the vampire council. In the battle that ensued, a night creature bit Hector’s entire hand off, breaking the spell that was keeping him bound to Lenore and the other 3. With that done, Hector was able to turn one of Isaac’s night creatures into one of his own and flee, searching for Dracula’s castle, needing to see for himself that his master was truly dead. Here he found the two impaled bodies at the door, so he dared to hope, but all he found was a cranky, lonely Alucard, who didn’t have the heart to make Hector leave, so he let him stay. None of them trusted the other at first, both having been hurt by the other’s race, both so full of wounds caused by betrayal that they couldn’t allow anyone to get close. And yet, it was in Alucard’s nature to be gallant and try to make himself liked, and it wasn’t in Hector’s nature to push someone away when they offered him nothing but kindness, so as the days passed Hector found himself searching for Alucard’s company. To keep the loneliness at bay, he told himself. And yet…</p><p>(this will be a multichapter/longer, posting early to share with some friends)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Hector</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’ve seen you slouch over those papers for days now. What are they?” he curiously asked, stretching his neck a little to see over Alucard’s shoulder. He had made sure to be at least a little loud, not wanting to startle him. The vampire was… jumpy. He didn’t want to risk his throat.</p><p>“The Belmont Hold needs a new door, since the night creatures destroyed the old one. So I’m trying to make one,” he replied, his shoulders slightly tensing under Hector’s gaze. “Come, take a look”</p><p>As the gray haired human walked around the table and set his eyes on the thin drafting papers Alucard had set in place with some books and candle holders on the edges to keep them open, Alucard himself forced himself to relax, although he was still on guard. Hector’s company was welcomed, as it chased the darkness surrounding him away, but he didn’t trust the human yet - and he knew that the human didn’t trust him either. But they were together now, and there had been no reason to worry yet - but neither had there been with Sumi and Taka, until that damned night. He should have known then, from the expressions on their faces, but he had been blind, stupid.</p><p>He snapped himself out of it. “The old hold gate was solid gold, from its weight, and inscribed with runes. The Speaker magician was able to open it, which prompted me to ponder old inscriptions, and I found a spell that I could use to seal off the entrance to the hold. But I still need something to inscribe it on, and that’s what I have been working on,” he explained as Hector took in his drawings.</p><p>“I didn’t expect Dracula’s son to be interested in something so trivial as architecture,” Hector found himself speaking, his fingers tracing the fine graphite lines on the paper. “What’s this?” he then asked, leaning over the paper to point at something. As he did so, his arm passed close enough to Alucard’s own that he felt his warmth on his skin, even if they hadn’t touched yet. A shiver went down the vampire’s spine. He hadn’t been touched since that damned night.</p><p>“It’s a hidden lever. The door has a magical seal, but also a mechanical engine that helps with opening it. A double safety layer, I could call it.”</p><p>“Interesting,” Hector nodded, pulling his hand back. Alucard missed the brief warmth.</p><p>The vampire threw a glance at a wall clock. “It’s late. I haven’t seen you for lunch. You must be famished,” he noted, straightening his back and putting down the pencil he was holding. “Come. Let’s have dinner.”</p><p>It had been their ritual in the last few days since Hector had crashed into the castle - they usually had lunch together (although with both of their sleeping habits, that lunch was more of a breakfast) and nearly always had dinner together, after the sun had set. With a hidden glimmer of gratefulness in his eyes, Hector nodded. “Chess, afterwards?”</p><p>Alucard’s eyes rose to the human’s face. That was a new one. “If you so desire,” he nodded, then made his way to a shelf nearby. Carefully crafted wooden boxes, decorated with luxurious fabrics and paints lay stacked upon each other - games, from all over the world. He picked up a wood and ivory box, the familiar black and white squares of the chess game visible on the outside of the box, and tucked it under his arm. “Shall we?”</p><p>“After you,” came the answer, Hector already keeping the door open.</p><p>The two of them walked nearly shoulder to shoulder towards the kitchen, where in the ice box Alucard had stored some meat from the previous day’s hunt, ready to be cooked for their next meal. He placed the chess box on the dinner table, then went into the pantry and came out with a few ingredients. “Chop these, will you?” he asked Hector, his voice soft as he placed a few vegetables next to the cutting board the human had already pulled out.</p><p>That, too, was part of their ritual - cooking together. Strangely enough, they did a lot of things together, despite not trusting each other. Alucard distantly wondered if it was because the human was afraid of getting poisoned or anything of the sort. Either way, sharing chores felt… domestic. He didn’t mind it, not in a bad way at least.</p><p>Together, they had the rabbit stew done and simmering above the fire in no time. To help pass time, Alucard poured them wine. “We could play a game before the food is ready. It will take a while”</p><p>Hector nodded in agreement and simply sat down, opened the chess box and begun setting the pieces. Alucard joined shortly after. As they were placing pieces on the board, their hands barely passing by each other, Alucard couldn’t help but find himself yearning to sink into that warmth - any warmth, really. The loneliness was slowly killing him, not that he would have admitted that to anyone, not even himself. “White opens,” Hector’s voice pulled Alucard out of his thoughts again. He scanned the board - a clean board, the possibilities endless now at the start of the game. He picked his first move and let Hector make his, then the cycle continued. None of them spoke much, instead choosing to study the board and throw fugitive glances at each other. It was funny, the dance they danced - both playing calm on the outside, when on the inside both were ready to fight or flight.</p><p>“Checkmate,” Alucard finally whispered after moving his last piece into position, then raised his glance towards Hector. He was met by the human’s sparkling eyes and the first genuine smile he remembered from him.</p><p>“You’re good at chess.”</p><p>“We’re evenly matched,” he protested, s blush creeping up his face. He pushed his chair back a bit abruptly, going to check on the food - cooked to tender perfection.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to upset you. I am sorry,” Hector murmured, looking down and starting to put the pieces back.</p><p>“You did nothing wrong. I just… Let’s play another game after we eat, shall we?” Alucard offered as he placed a steaming bowl and bread in front of Hector, then the same for himself.</p><p>Hector’s head tilted to the side. The vampire’s anxiety was visible even to him, but he made no sense out of it. “Sure, we can play another game. But I want you to tell me a story as we do,” he found himself asking.</p><p>“A story? About what?”</p><p>“About your mother. I have never met her, but Dracula only ever told wonderful things about her.”</p><p>There was pain in Alucard’s eyes as he heard the request, amplified by the memory of how his father had died. But he agreed anyway. With Trevor and Sipha gone, Hector was the only one who had met his father - and he had seen a good side of Dracula too before the entire world domination plan had been put into motion. “Very well,” was all he said before digging into his stew, then silence followed for a few minutes as they both ate - Alucaard collecting himself, Hector waiting.</p><p>When he started speaking, the stories flowed one after the other. Remembering his mother made him feel a little like she was still there, by his side, so he nearly forgot that he didn’t trust Hector. And Hector nearly forgot that he didn’t trust Alucard, immersed into the memories Alucard was sharing. He couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like to have such a mother. But it was futile to question such things, as it was impossible to ever achieve that.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1 part 2 because that was embarrasingly short</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Big thank you to Zeco5000 who reignited my drive to write these two, man I love you</p>
<p>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeco5000/pseuds/Zeco5000</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time he was done, they had both abandoned their half eaten stew, and both of them had turned inwards into themselves.</p>
<p>“Do you miss her?” Hector finally asked.</p>
<p>“Every day of my life. Had she still been here, everything would have been different,” he sighed softly. “But there’s no point in thinking about the past when you can do nothing to bring it back. How is your arm?”</p>
<p>Hector, as if just remembering about his wound, looked down at the bandaged end of his arm where his hand was missing. “It’s, uh, it’s alright, I think. The salve you gave me prevented it from rotting, and I have been changing my bandages daily as you instructed me to.”</p>
<p>“I’m glad to hear that. Shall we return to our game?”</p>
<p>Hector nodded and moved his next piece. The game went on for a while, and after that game they started another, then another, then another. The two of them seemed to be evenly matched, their win-lose score being nearly perfectly even. To an outside watcher, it might have looked like they were letting each other win on purpose, only to keep dancing a strange dance together.</p>
<p>“It’s getting late. You should get some rest. Your body needs it to recover,” Alucard finally told Hector as he got beaten again.</p>
<p>“We both need company still. Our minds are not ready to be alone again,” he countered, his remark being surprinsingly sharp and accurate.</p>
<p>Alucard found himself chuckling as he got up and cleaned the table up. “You’re right. We could start the fire in the library and have a drink together if you want. But I would really like to return to my architectural work, I have some calculations left to do and then I need to decide on the best materials to use to withstand the weather.”</p>
<p>“Don’t let me inconvenience you then. I have been wanting to browse through the books in the library again for a while now, but I never found the time. A fireplace, a drink and a good book sound heavenly right now,” he agreed, starting to put the pieces of the game back inside their box.</p>
<p>Alucard chuckled softly. Inconvenienced… the human brought him more comfort than he cared to admit. Although having him in the same room as him as he worked on something else and wouldn’t be paying his full attention to Hector was giving him a certian level of anxiety, he couldn’t help but be glad for the company.</p>
<p>“Very well. Would you be kind to take that second wine bottle with you then?” Alucard asked, putting the now clean dishes away.</p>
<p>They made thier way back to the library together, Alucard carrying their now washed wine glasses in his hand, Hector having tucked the game board under his arm. Once there, Alucard quickly lit the fire, so quick it felt as if he had used magic.</p>
<p>“Useful party trick,” Hector commented as he poured wine in their two glasses, then walked towards the shelves to look for a book to read.</p>
<p>“It’s not a party trick, it’s-” Alucard started explaining, but he realized mid sentence that Hector was… tesing him? As a joke? Didn’t Sypha and Trevor do that all the time? Yes, yes they did. He huffed in amusement and shook his head, took his glass of wine and made his way back to the drafting board. On the floor next to it awaited a stack of books that he had to browse in search for the perfect material. With a sigh, he picked the top one and slid down to the floor against a bookshelf, his glass safely placed on the floor.</p>
<p>“Would you like some help studying those?” Hector offered, looking at the vampire over his shoulder.</p>
<p>“It’s… it’s alright, you don’t have to. You wanted to browse through the books, didn’t you?”</p>
<p>“Well, yes, but I suppose reading about construction materials counts as browsing, if I want it to,” he half smiled, walking towards the stack of books and picking the current top one. He then pulled an armchair closer, angling it so that he and Alucard could look at each other over their books.</p>
<p>“It can’t be as interesting as some of the other things here in this library, can it now?”</p>
<p>“No, it’s not. But it’s my way of saying thank you… Alucard.”</p>
<p>There was a small moment of hesitation in Hector’s voice, his reflex having been to call Alucard Master. As he left the title out, he glanced over the book at the vampire, partially hiding his eyes with the ancient pages. He saw Alucard sitting on the floor, one knee bent as he propped himself up against the bookshelf, his jaw somewhat hanging as tha faintest of blushes spread on his cheeks. His near shocked expression only lasted for a second, and as soon as he recollected himself a small, all knowing smile stretched on his lips.</p>
<p>“Very well. Your help is greatly appreciated,” he nodded, then raised his glass into the iar as a toast. “For knowledge,” he said and sipped.</p>
<p>“For knowledge,” Hector echoed meditatively before sipping.</p>
<p>Had he truly seen the vampire’s face right? That was somewhat unexpected. He had never met a vampire so surprised that humans would do something of their own accord as a thank you. Quite on the contrary, most other vampires seemed to expect it after the smallest of favors. A strange man, Alucard was. Maybe being raised by a human mother had shaped him differently.</p>
<p>They spent hours reading side by side, rarely talking to each other more than the occasional “This book mentions that there’s a material that would be fit” and “Would you like some more wine?”. At some point, Alucard noticed that he hadn’t heard the sound of turning pages in quite some time, and raised his glance towards Hector. He found the human asleep in the velvet armchair, his head leaned back and to the side against the armrest, book resting open on his chest. He checked the wall clock - early morning, the roosters were probably awake by now - and chuckled softly. Hector reminded him of a child that needed to be taken care of sometimes. He closed his book, memorizing the number of the page he was reading, and looked around for a knitted blanket to cover Hector with. Before leaving the library he threw another log on the fire, making sure that it wouldn’t go out too soon and leave the human to freeze.</p>
<p>He made his way out of the library with silent, cat like steps, and left the door partially open to avoid making more noise than necessary. It only hit him once he was laying in his own bed - why was he so caring with the human? The thought continued spiraling in his head as he fell asleep, leaning into the dark bliss of a dreamless void.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Actually Chapter 2, which has the right size (chonky)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world around him was warm and soft. He could feel the soft warmth of the fireplace on his face, its faint light piercing through his eyelids and slowly bringing him back to consciousness. A soft scratching sound, like graphite on paper, accompanied the cackling of the fire. There was a comfortable weight on his chest, although something seemed to be poking into his arm. And his neck… oh, devils, his neck and back were all stiff.</p>
<p>His eyes fluttered open and he straightened with a groan, resting his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms, causing the book on his chest to fall to the ground and lose the page he had been reading on.</p>
<p>“Good morning,” Alucard’s voice purred in Hector’s direction from the drafting table, the graphite on paper scribbling still going on. “How was your sleep?”</p>
<p>“I’ve had worse,” Hector admitted, thinking back to the times when he had to sleep naked on a cold stone floor. “I have also had better,” he continued, standing up and stretching. The stiffness in his muscles went away after a couple moments, although a slight pain still remained. Nothing he couldn’t endure.</p>
<p>“I changed your bandages as you slept. Your arm looks good. You have been taking really good care of it”</p>
<p>A faint blush crept up the human’s cheeks. How deeply asleep had he been to not feel Alucard change his bandages? As he had said, there seemed to be new cloth wrapped around his wrist.</p>
<p>“Thank you. You needn’t have,” he said, averting his gaze as he picked up the book on the floor and placed it away, then walked around the table where Alucard was working to look over his shoulder again.</p>
<p>A slight feeling of deja-vu engulfed both of them as Hector pointed at the paper and calculations Alucard was making. “That can’t be correct. The hold door would be too heavy for any mechanism of that size to be able to lift it,” he frowned.</p>
<p>“Pulleys and levers can help double or even triple the power of any mechanism. And with the right metal, I think that it should work. There’s a bit of trial and error, and I am not the best at smithing, but I think I can pull it off.”</p>
<p>“And what would be the right metal?”</p>
<p>“Wolfram, also known as tungsten. It’s highly durable and very heavy. That, together with a little bit of magic, should make a sturdy enough door to replace the one broken by the night creatures,” he replied meditatively.</p>
<p>As if finding the most opportune moment to interrupt, Hector’s stomach grumbled before he could give any reply.</p>
<p>“Would you like to join me for breakfast?” Alucard asked softly. “There are bread buns in the oven, I think they should be prefectly nice and crisp now.”</p>
<p>At the mention of breadbuns, Hector’s gaze lit up a notch. “That would be.. really nice,” he managed to muster. He was holding back, the comfort he was feeling in Alucard’s presence too much for him to accept yet. He felt uncomfortably… safe.</p>
<p>The kitchen smelled like bread, and the buns Alucard pulled out of the oven were perfectly rounded and golden on the top. They had the buns with butter and tea, and after breakfast they both seemed to have relaxed visibly.</p>
<p>“Will you be working on the hold door today for longer?”</p>
<p>“I do have to finish it, don’t I?” Alucard arched na eyebrow, near daring Hector to ask him to do something else instead.</p>
<p>“Well, yes. I was wondering… you seem quite knowledgeable about both magic and science. Do you think there would be any way to… make a prosthetic hand?” he asked, swallowing visibly.</p>
<p>“I could look into it,” Alucard nodded thoughtfully. He didn’t have the information, but he knew exactly where to find it. It couldn’t have been too hard, could it?</p>
<p>He didn’t miss the light in Hector’s eyes as he agreed, but the gratefulness saddened him. He wished the world had more good in it, and yet he couldn’t trust the little good that existed.</p>
<p>“I do need to go hunting for dinner though, and one of us needs to go to the village for supplies. Not to mention, it’s time to milk the goats.</p>
<p>“The goats around are yours?” Hector asked, surprise clear in his voice.</p>
<p>“No, but the shepherds don’t mind if I milk one or two of them every other day. They can never find out anyway,” Alucard replied with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes, pulling an amused chuckle from Hector.</p>
<p>Alucard felt so… painfully human. And yet Hector hadn’t missed the few bottles filled with a red liquid that was thicker than wine and never left the icebox in his presence. Was it human blood, or was it animal blood? He suspected the latter, but truth was, he didn’t want to know if he was right or wrong, because the slim possibility of being wrong terrified him.</p>
<p>“I see. I could go into the village. I think you’re better at hunting than I am anyway.”</p>
<p>“Probably,”Alucard let out a half amused grin, leaning back into his chair. “Then I shall see you in a few hours? When you come back the library is all yours, you could finally search for what you wanted to search. There’s an entire section for prosthetics too, if you search in the P area of the library. But until then, there’s a pouch with coins in the hanger over there,” Alucard pointed towards the door.</p>
<p>Hector nodded and couldn’t hide a small smile. “I’ll make sure to be back soon. I wouldn’t want to let you have all the fun of designing my new hand.”</p>
<p>“Of course not, and it would be such a shame if we left each other without company for too long, wouldn’t it?” Alucard chuckled, then closed his eyes. “You can go. I’ll clean up here.”</p>
<p>So Hector did. He grabbed the coins and a mantle to keep him warm, then made his way over the hills and into the village. Soon enough, he was on his way back.</p>
<p>As he walked back towards the castle, his mind started wandering. Alucard’s company was… nice. And he was caring. It was a strange feeling, one that he couldn’t quite place, one that he hadn’t quite felt before. He wanted to lean more into him, but no human or vampire that he had ever trusted before hadn’t not used him. But what if… what if this time would have been different? He was tired, so tired of always being alone and on guard. He wanted someone to have his back. What if that someone could have been Alucard?</p>
<p>The vampire himself was tormented by similar thoughts as he wandered through the forest, searching for prey. It was his usual pace - first, scout the forest; then, if nothing of sufficient interest showed up, move on to the river. Fishing was always a success, the waters being plentiful. But today was not a good day for scouting - no matter how hard he tried to focus on the task at hand, his mind kept wandering off to the peaceful expression Hector had had the night before while he was asleep. Above all, he couldn’t help but twist and turn in his mind a simple, yet incredible concept - the human had trusted him enough to fall asleep. The more he found himself going back on the fact, the more it bothered him. Why? Why would someone like Hector, who had suffered so much at the hands of both humans and vampires, feel such comfort in his presence? Was it as simple as knowing that should he want to, Alucard could kill him at any point, so whether he was or was not in the room didn’t matter, or was it more? He couldn’t imagine such peace could be felt by someone who always expected the worst. So if that wasn’t the case, why?</p>
<p>He realized he had stopped moving a while ago, leaning with his hand against a tree. He seemed to have been there for so long, and so immobile, that a pair of deer accompanied by a stag were grazing nearby, not having noticed his presence - or having deemed it not threatening. In a flash of light, his sword glided out of its sheath and through one of the deer’s eyes, causing it to fall to the ground, its skin nearly completely intact. Well, now that was a good pelt, he distantly though as the other two animals ran, frightened by the sudden movement and the fall of their companion. That had to be enough meat for a couple days, and some of it could even be sold into the village, he found himself thinking as he lifted the carcass on his shoulders.</p>
<p>The blood dripping down his shirt barely got a reaction from him. He was more civilized than to suck it right out of the animal, but it seemed wasteful to let it all drain. So he hurried home, and did all that needed to be done to preserve the meat and the pelt for a while until he actually had time to portion and treat everything, and only then had some of the blood, away from Hector’s eyes. Why was he even trying to protect the human from his nature? It wasn’t as if he was keeping a secret. It just seemed… simpler, to pretend.</p>
<p>He checked the time. Hector was going to be back soon, if he wasn’t already. He better hurried to find those goats roaming around.</p>
<p>Surely enough, when he returned yet again, a bucket of fresh, slightly warm milk in his hand, he found Hector in the kitchen, unloading his basket. The late afternoon sun passed through the window right in front of Hector, forcing Alucard to look at him through slightly closed eyes and turning Hector into a little more than a black silhouette on a golden background.</p>
<p>“I found some berries on the way back,” he announced, pointing at a bowl willed with wild raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. “I couldn’t resist the temptation”</p>
<p>“I… yes, thank you. We could turn them into a pie, if you’d like,” Alucard managed to answer, shaking his head. He walked up closer and nearly slammed the bucket on the counter, a few droplets of milk jumping out. His hands were shaking. What was wrong with him?</p>
<p>Hector however didn’t seem to notice as he continued putting things back into their place. With a silent sigh, Alucard continued his work, bottling the milk and leaving it into the icebox. “As soon as you’re done we can go study the books in the library, and maybe tomorrow I’ll check the forge for materials.</p>
<p>“You think it could be done so soon?”</p>
<p>“Maybe. I don’t know if it can be done so soon, but we can definitely start doing mock-ups. After all, metal can be molten, forged and reforged as many times as we like.”</p>
<p>Once again, the gratefulness in Hector’s eyes sent a piercing sensation through Alucard’s heart. The poor soul… he had clearly not gotten enough anything while growing up. And Alucard’s entire being craved to give. “Don’t worry about it. You tried to help my father achieve what you thought was his dream and got hurt in the process. He lied to you, and yet you came back here to see if he truly was dead. The least I can do is try to give you your hand back,” he found himself speaking, the words leaving his mouth somewhat hesitantly.</p>
<p>“Thank you. That is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Hector admitted, his voice shaky as he averted his gaze and placed the last of the supplies on their shelves. “We can go now, everything here is set.”</p>
<p>The library section about prosthetics was way smaller than Alucard remembered it. It was, most likely, because he was now looking at it from 3 feet higher than the last time. Not letting his disappointment show, he started browsing through the tomes. They might have to check the Belmont hold as well… He doubted that a family of monster hunters would have had anything to do with magical prosthetics, but there was no loss in looking, if they didn’t find what they needed here.</p>
<p>Hours passed, and dozens of books got skimmed through by both of them. A stack of papers was slowly but surely spread all over the floor as they both made notes, Alucard’s handwriting right leaning and elegant, Hector’s handwriting not so much, his letters being small and reminiscent of chicken scratches on paper.</p>
<p>“There’s very little about animating prosthetics here,” Hector finally said what they were both thinking, straightening his back and taking a look at the papers all over the floor - plenty of information about how to make perfectly mobile prosthetics, even some about how to create partially animated, electrically powered prosthetics, but nothing about a fully animated magical prosthetic.</p>
<p>“We haven’t gotten through all the books yet,” Alucard countered, trying to stay positive. “And the Belmont Hold might have a thing or two as well, who knows,” he suggested, trying to make his voice as cheerful as possible, but it didn’t work that well, so he let it go. “We should have a break. Have something to eat, clear our minds a little. We can come back to it later, it’s not like the books are going to leave anywhere,”</p>
<p>Hector nodded, a hint of reluctance visible on his face. He was starting to lose hope that the answer was in that library, but he tried to tell himself that at least now they had a lot of notes about how to make the physical components of the prosthetic. That at least was something, right? He followed Alucard back to the kitchen. They had been spending a lot of time here lately, hadn’t they? The room was comfortable, intimate even, especially for a castle so big, where most of the chambers were rather grand. He liked it, really.</p>
<p>His eyes widened a bit as he recognized an entire doe leg being put on the counter. “Big game hunter, huh?” he asked , an amused smirk appearing on his face. “That’s enough to feed a family”</p>
<p>“Which is why half of the doe is going to go to the village tomorrow. It’s too much to keep, even with two of us here.”</p>
<p>“Then why did you hunt it?”</p>
<p>“It happened to be the most convenient meal at the time,” he shrugged. As strange as it seemed, that was actually the whole truth.</p>
<p>With an amused puff, Hector joined him into the kitchen, and together they prepared the meal. Still together, they enjoyed it over a couple games of chess, Alucard having gone for a couple minutes to “bring a surprise” and having returned with mead and the chess board.</p>
<p>With both of their stomachs full and alcohol in their veins, they both found their eyes slowly closing. “I think it’s time for a bit of calm entertainment, wouldn’t you say so? Would you like to see the music chamber?”</p>
<p>“I’d love to,”</p>
<p>The music chamber was, just as the name foretold, a large chamber with numerous musical instruments in it. On a small stage there was a dusty, black lacquer piano, moonlight falling on it as if intentional. Hector couldn’t help but be fascinated by it and walked closer, running a fingertip over the whalebone keys.</p>
<p>“Can you play it?”</p>
<p>“The piano? Yes, but it’s npt exactly my favorite instrument. It never was. It feels too… open, I guess,” Alucard’s voice echoed through the room, sounding sligtly muffled.</p>
<p>After searching for him with his gaze, Hector found Alucard in a deep chest down to his waist, seemingly searching for something. It was only a few moments until the vampire was able to pull something out - a delicate, fragile looking violin with a silvered bow.</p>
<p>“Then, should I guess that the violin is your preffered instrument?”</p>
<p>With what could only be called a sad smirk,  Alucard touched the violin with the bow. A long, high pitched sound came out of the strings. “It is. I haven’t gotten the chance to play in a while though, so I might be rusty,” he apologized as he adjusted the tension in the strings. When he tested them again, the sound that came out was crystal clean, high and deep in the same time, like a thick mead for the ears.</p>
<p>He begun playing, a melancoholic melody leaving his agile fingers. Hypnothised by the song, Hector found himself leaning against the piano as he watched Alucard play. To his dismay, he noticed tears glistering in the moonlight, and he had to hold back with his entire being from approaching Alucard to wipe them away. The song came to a halt abruptly, as if he couldn’t bring himself to play the final notes, and the room was in heavy silence for a while.</p>
<p>“That was… beautiful.”</p>
<p>“...thank you. My mother… liked music very much. I… I need to be alone now. Feel free to return to the library,” Alucard half whispered before leaving the room, violin and bow still in his hands, leaving Hector with his mouth half open. What had that been about?</p>
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